12 h. ago Brian Wilson 'became detached' after battling Long Covid says Beach Boys band pal

Bandmate Al Jardine says legend Brian started to go down hill three years ago and suffered mobility issues after undergoing several ops on his back – which affected his mental health

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13 h. ago ‘I yearned to be a California Girl – but I lived in Burnley’: readers on their love for Brian Wilson

From memories of photoshoots and telephone calls with the late Beach Boy, to appraisals of his complex but pure music, Guardian readers pay tribute to a greatWhether wistful or euphoric, Brian Wilson made pop’s most overwhelmingly beautiful musicRay Davies, Graham Nash and others on Brian Wilson’s songwriting geniusEndless summer: how Brian Wilson soundtracked CaliforniaI remember the Christmas after my mother’s death in 1989 when I was 15, I purchased the best-of collection from Asda, interested to see what I would hear. It had the hits, of course, but also a few of the deeper cuts from Pet Sounds and onwards. To say this changed my life is an understatement – Brian’s music, harmonies and subject matters struck an incredible chord in me. It did exactly what he existed for, bringing comfort to a heart and soul that needs it. I’ve been a fan ever since – I saw him at the Royal Festival Hall on his first Pet Sounds tour, watched him perform Smile in utter disbelief and wonder in Liver...

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26 h. ago Living Colour opens 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame to honor new inductee George Clinton

The funk rock group Living Colour opened an energetic 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame Thursday night to honor new inductee George Clinton

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27 h. ago Mike Love and John Stamos pay tribute to Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

Mike Love is looking back fondly on Brian Wilson, his cousin and Beach Boys collaborator who died Wednesday at 82

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28 h. ago LCD Soundsystem honour Brian Wilson and Sly Stone at residency’s opening night

The New York group played at London’s Brixton Academy.

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33 h. ago ‘The joy shot out of his voice’: Ray Davies, Graham Nash and others on Brian Wilson’s songwriting genius

With the innocence of a child and the vision of a god, his craft was astonishing. From Jessica Pratt to Jim James and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, top musicians explain why he was like no other‘He taught the world how to smile’: Brian Wilson bandmates pay tribute along with Bob Dylan, Elton John and moreTwelve of Brian Wilson’s greatest songsFor all the sophistication that everyone talks about, Brian never loses the thread of the song: the emotion. They have this childlike quality. These days we’d probably say he’s on the spectrum – there’s a sort of Asperger’s type innocence. He makes the lyrics and the melody speak. It’s so welcoming and without edge; it’s not part of a cynical adult world. Continue reading...

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36 h. ago Brian Wilson death: Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and John Cusack lead tributes to Beach Boys star

Bob Dylan and Wilson’s longtime Beach Boys bandmate Al Jardine also paid their respects

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36 h. ago Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson hailed as a 'true giant' by music legends

Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Bob Dylan were among the famous faces paying tribute to Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson following his death at the age of 82

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38 h. ago Paul McCartney says ‘musical genius’ Brian Wilson was ‘bright shining light’

The 82-year-old Beatles bass player has previously cited Wilson’s work as an inspiration for his own.

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42 h. ago Brian Wilson describes songwriting process as ‘coming from the heart’ in resurfaced video

Brian Wilson describes his songwriting process as “coming from the heart” in resurfaced footage following his death.

Culture

42 h. ago Brian Wilson in Quotes: These are 15 insightful quotes from the Beach Boys star on music, love and life

The musical genius always had something interesting to say on a range of subjects.

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42 h. ago ‘He taught the world how to smile’: Brian Wilson bandmates pay tribute along with Bob Dylan, Elton John and more

Beach Boys members Al Jardine and Mike Love give lengthy tributes to late songwriter, with Jardine calling him a ‘humble musical giant’• Brian Wilson: a life in pictures• Twelve of Brian Wilson’s greatest songsFollowing his death aged 82, Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys bandmates have been among those paying tribute to one of the great figures in American popular music.Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Al Jardine described Wilson as “a real gentleman, a real musical intellect, who taught the world how to smile.” Continue reading...

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45 h. ago Elton John hails Brian Wilson as the 'biggest influence on my songwriting ever' as tributes to Beach Boys genius pour in

Posting on Instagram, Sir Elton said Wilson was ‘always so kind to me’ and ‘the biggest influence on my songwriting ever’

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47 h. ago Two musical revolutionaries, Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, leave life's stage nearly simultaneously

Sometimes death, as life, brings strange symmetries

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50 h. ago Beach Boys' Brian Wilson's torture at the hands of his rotten father and the deep turmoil before his death

'It was hard to feel happy and light when there were sad things in my head,' Wilson wrote in his 2016 autobiography I Am Brian Wilson. 'It was hard to feel free when I was tied down.

Events

53 h. ago Resurfaced footage shows Brian Wilson describing songwriting process as ‘coming from the heart’

Brian Wilson describes his songwriting process as “coming from the heart” in resurfaced footage following his death.

Culture

53 h. ago Whether wistful or euphoric, Brian Wilson made pop’s most overwhelmingly beautiful music

He was the Beach Boys’ resident genius, seeping melancholy into even peppy teenybopper hits. Beyond all the myths about his life, that brilliance is still intoxicatingBrian Wilson, visionary creative spirit for the Beach Boys, dies aged 82Brian Wilson: a life in picturesIt’s fair to say that no one who bought the Beach Boys debut single in 1961 would have realised they were in the presence of genius. Surfin’ sounded exactly like what it was: one of dozens of cheap, hastily-recorded singles released on a tiny independent label to cash in on the burgeoning craze for surf music, albeit a regionally-successful example of type. You might easily have expected to never hear of the band who made it again.But the 19-year-old Brian Wilson was determined – he was the taskmaster that had relentlessly drilled his unwilling younger brothers Carl and Dennis into learning to harmonise – and a quick learner. The leap in quality between Surfin’ and its 1962 follow-up Surfin’ Safari was striking. The ...

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54 h. ago Brian Wilson: Beach Boys star who surfed the waves to success

The band shaped 1960s American pop with hits such as Surfin’ USA, I Get Around and California Girls.

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54 h. ago Brian Wilson: the Beach Boys visionary who changed music forever

The troubled musician was a genius whose work was the envy of generations of fellow artists. Fiona Sturges pays tribute, and recalls her encounter with Wilson where he told her about his fear of failure, his abusive father, and the voices in his head

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55 h. ago 10 songs to celebrate the life and legacy of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson

The musical world has lost a giant

Culture